Here’s a little something which I’ve knocked-up for my own use, but thought it may be suitable for others. So, I’ve tidied it up, added INI file support and it’s available now. It allows you to assign up to 6 buttons to control the mAirList Command software supplied with the mAirList download.
It’s just Visual Studio 6 (specifically, VB). Source available, as it’s nothing complicated.
SOAP - Well, I’ve got the RemObjects SDK but not had much luck with it. I’ll need to have a further look. I think a question of security will come into play soon - You can’t have a PC open to control from another just by firing a URL. The Station Playlist Monitor App has a password option inside it, and so does the playout software.
Imagine a member of staff leaves - It’d be far easier to change the password than the ports, especially if you’re operating remotely over a WAN (just thinking of future-proofing here)
Oh, yes, the security question … I will present a possible solution soon.
The RemObjects SDK is nice (and, by the way, authored by an old friend of mine). It comes with its own optimized protocol (running on the /BIN url). However, you can also enable a standard SOAP interface on the server (= mAirList). I will find out how to do this. There’s an article on remobjects.com.
I don’t know much about VB, but there should be tons of tutorials for SOAP clients. Here is one I just found on Google: http://www.soapuser.com/client4.html